Send petition on Navin Chawla to CEC, NDA urges President

Sunday 9 April 2006

Special Correspondent

Plea follows reports that the A-G had given a clean chit to him

NEW DELHI: A delegation of the National Democratic Alliance met President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Saturday and requested him to direct Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to forward to the Chief Election Commissioner their earlier petition signed by 205 members of Parliament for the removal of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla.

The NDA move came close on the heels of reports that Attorney-General Milon Banerjee had given a clean chit to Mr. Chawla on his conduct as Election Commissioner following an NDA complaint to the President about his alleged misconduct as a bureaucrat.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh said they submitted to the President that their earlier petition seeking Mr. Chawla’s removal should have been sent directly to the Chief Election Commissioner. "Neither the Prime Minister not the Attorney-General had any role in the matter. It is the CEC alone who has the jurisdiction to recommend any action [against an Election Commissioner] to the President,’’ he claimed.

The memorandum states that the "past conduct of Mr. Chawla cannot be divorced from his present status as a member of the Election Commission because he cannot be expected to act in an unbiased manner."

Accusing the United Progressive Alliance Government of "shielding" Mr. Chawla, the memorandum said: "The moot point remains that as per constitutional norms, the authority to examine all this is the CEC alone, whose recommendations only is to be considered by the President. Dr. Manmohan Singh or his Government has no role in this."

Among those who met the President were NDA convener George Fernandes and BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj, V.K. Malhotra, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.